The Race to Monaco & The Special Builders' Breakfast Club

Every Home…

But it wasn’t to be and instead, practically every home has a computer. Both the Flea and the computer are equally hazardous to health; one wants to kill you, the other makes you want to kill (I’ve been having computer problems which have contributed to my lack of posting). I was alerted to this Flea by a reader – thank you – and Counsel and I popped up to see it at Anglia Car Auctions. This example was built in 2001 at Shoreham and used as a promotional exhibit. I think it’s been re-engined somewhere along the line – I’m not quite sure why. Besides the Flea there was a surprising amount of classic cars to look at. An immaculate MkII Zephyr 6 caught my eye; I’ve always liked column change and a bench seat.

But talking of looking at cars, the annual trip to the Classic Car show at the NEC also had some pretty and eye-catching cars to look at. As a child and living in Germany in the late 50’s and early 60’s, the Borgward Isabella Saloon was a fairly rare spot. It was even less often that a coupe or roadster appeared but it’s a car I’ve never forgotten and it’s always been on my list of things it would be fun to have.

The cream and custard scheme is not really my thing; I’d much prefer a more subtle graphite grey but I’m not going to be too fussy if I trip over one.

This was interesting; the Evanta GT. The Company build bespoke motorcars (we know about that sort of thing) and I preferred this coupe to their Barchetta which was also on display. The real looker was their TC R1 – unfortunately no longer available.

The Beast of Turin was pretty impressive though it was difficult to get a decent picture there being so many people around it. It looks the sort of thing that might easily run away with you! One of the highlights of the show was meeting a chap called Martin who had just completed the restoration of a ’66 Mustang Coupe. I’d followed his blog (One Man and his Mustang) for the last couple of years and I’d been impressed from the outset by not only the care Martin (and Mustang Maniac) took, but also his incredibly detailed commentary and photographic record of the build. If you ever want to restore a Mustang, Martin’s blog is your first stop.

It’s difficult not to come away from shows without having something to play with on the way home and I happened to spot this little air tool on offer for a modest £25. The grinding bits would probably be a waste of space (I find the Dremel bits are not man enough for anything but the lightest work) but a right-angled miniature grinder ticked all the boxes. As luck would have it, the next day as I was struggling with a seized countersunk locking screw in an almost inaccessible place in the depths of a digger, I realized that the tool for the job was the grinder and, I take back what I said about the bits; they came up trumps.

4 comments on “Every Home…”

Hi Nigel, it was a real pleasure to meet you at the show with your good lady. Thank you very much for your kind words about my blog. I will be posting my little bit over the weekend at some point. It’s amazing that the world is as big as it is and we only live a couple of villages apart. I would love to pop over and see you and your work soon.

Hello David,
Unfortunately I can’t and I don’t think the auctioneers will release details of the vendor (if it remained unsold) or the buyer – but you could try. Good luck and thanks for your interest.